Oferta de la empresa

An important attribute of the press in general, and of Der Bazar in particular, is its ability to create “imagined communities.”¹¹⁵ Belgum borrows the term from Benedict Anderson’s well-known definition of nation as “an imagined political community [that is]

imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.”¹¹⁶ According to Anderson, imagined communities have little to do with national boundaries and are not dependent on face-to-face interactions between their members; rather, they are forged based on shared interests and beliefs. Belgum points to Anderson’s argument that print-capitalism was a key factor in the emergence of imagined communities.¹¹⁷

As Belgum explains,

The development of print thus laid the groundwork for many geographically dispersed individuals to have contact with one another through common reading material. By participating in the same experience simultaneously, they could, without any direct, face-to-face contact, conceive of themselves as members of the same group. In other words, the medium of print helped establish the bond of a common language and the production of distributable texts that played a key role in the creation of modern Western nations.¹¹⁸

115 Belgum, vvii.

116 Anderson, 224.

117 Belgum, vvii.

118 Ibid.

76 She argues that the different and disparate groups within Germany after the 1848

revolution could find common ground through the collective sense of community created by the popular press. The key attributes of this shared belonging are a common language and access to the same print material. Thus, citizens living in North German territories could, with the aid of the popular press, find a common bond with their South German neighbors without face-to-face interaction. It sufficed that both groups were addressed and represented in a text so widely distributed that it reached people in all the German territories.

Although Belgum’s analysis focuses on how a sense of community was created by the popular press in Germany, I suggest that the circle of influence extended to include Austria as well. Despite a history of competition between Austria and the Prussian states and the conflicts that culminated in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, the articles in Der Bazar point to a popular understanding of “German” that included its Austrian neighbors and relied on a shared language, history, and culture, rather than transient and penetrable borders, as markers of inclusion.

This is well exemplified by the 1862 article in Der Bazar, titled “Zwei

Schriftstellerinnen, Eine vergleichende Studie”(Two writers, a comparative study).¹¹⁹ The article compares the writings of two female writers, the Austrian Karoline von Greiner (later called Pichler)¹²⁰ and the French Madame de Staël.¹²¹ The Austrian Pichler

119 Theodor Reinwald, “Zwei Schriftstellerinnen, Eine vergleichende Studie,” Der Bazar, Illustrirte Damen Zeitung, August 1862, 246-47.

120 Karoline Pichler (1769 – 1843) was an Austrian novelist born in Vienna. She was part of an influential circle of writers and musicians in Vienna, having studied under Mozart and being acquainted with Haydn.

Her salon became well known for drawing together prominent figures such as Grillparzer and Beethoven.

Despite her notoriety, her early works were published anonymously. She later became well known for her historical romance novels. For more, see Gertrude Prohaska, Der literarische Salon der Karoline Pichler (PhD diss.,University of Vienna, 1946).

77 is offered as representative of the “German” literary figure in comparison to her French counterpart. The author of the article, Theodor Reinwald, notes that Pichler has often been referred to as “die deutsche Staël” (the German Staël), which he dismisses as an inaccurate observation. ¹²² Reinwald finds fault not with the comparison between the two writers as undertaken on a literary level but rather with the cultural assumptions inherent in a statement such as “die deutsche Staël.” According to Reinwald, the two have little in common and the virtue of the Austrian writer (here as representative of a “German”

woman) becomes tarnished when such an unjust comparison is made. Reinwald articulates the difference between the two women writers by claiming that Staël was driven by passion and a desire to break the mold, whereas Pichler focused on more traditionally “female” topics such as motherhood, marriage, and religion. Reinwald praises Pichler for being content in her “natural” role as a woman, concluding that this allowed her to lead a happy and long life, while Staël remained torn between lovers, never at peace, and fated to an early death. Reinwald concludes his comparison with these final words that make plain his understanding of gender and women’s roles in the public domain:

Der bessere Kern ihrer [Pichlers] Schriften wäre doch manchem Product der neuen Literatur zu wünschen, und insbesondere die ‘schreibenden Frauen’, von denen der Fluch des Vorurtheils noch nicht ganz genommen ist, sollten die ihnen

121 Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766 – 1817), known as Madame de Staël, was a French- speaking writer living predominantly in Paris. Like Pichler in Vienna, Madame de Staël was an influential and well-regarded member of the literary society during her time. She, too, began her career by publishing anonymously but was able to later republish her works under her own name. Other parallels to Pichler include her prominence as a ‘salonière,’ bringing together influential writers, artists, and musicians at her home in Coppet, France. For more, see Maria Fairweather, Madame de Staël (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005).

122 Reinwald, 246.

78 gesteckte Grenze nie überschreiten, von Beruf der Frau auch in der

schriftstellerischen Sphäre nie verleugnen.¹²³

Reinwald’s essay thus demonstrates the prejudice against which women writers were often forced to rebel, showing also how the popular press played its role in perpetuating an idealized image of the German wife and mother. As noted in chapter one, the popular belief that women’s involvement in the literary world would threaten the existing social order thwarted women writers as they tried to build careers. The literary world was seen as the world of the mind and thus deemed incongruous with the “feminine sensibility,”

which was believed to be steeped in emotions and, as such, incompatible with any work reliant on reason and critical thinking. Reinwald’s article provides one example of gender roles being enforced and disseminated with the help of the popular press. His essay also demonstrates how a German and specifically national image of womanhood was taking shape. According to Reinwald, the German (and Austrian) woman differed from her French counterpart by virtue of her maternal and domestic values. She holds her family and home above her professional aspirations, and unlike the French Madame de Staël, is thus rewarded with a rich and fulfilling home life.

In addition to presenting Karoline Pichler as representative of successful German writer, Der Bazar also featured the Austrian princess Elisabeth (“Sissi”) as representative of a German monarchy in a comparison with Princess Charlotte of Wales, representative of the British royalty. One February issue of 1878 featured front-page portraits of

Princess Elisabeth and Princess Charlotte with the caption “Zwei hohe Bräute” (Two

123 Ibid, 247. Translation: “the better part of her [Pichler’s] writing would do many a writer good in the new literature of our time. Especially the ‘scribbling woman,’ against whom there is still much prejudice, would benefit from keeping with the boundaries placed on her in her role as woman, which should be observed within the literary sphere as well.”

79 royal brides).¹²⁴ Surrounded by garlands of vines and two entwined wedding bands, the princesses were featured much as celebrity weddings are presented in tabloid magazines today. While the images and accompanying text are not remarkable, it is noteworthy once again that an Austrian woman is featured as representative of a “German” ideal.

Examples such as these show how the German press perceived national identity and what groups were included in that category. German-speaking Austrians figure as part of a

“German” identity, whereas the women of French and British descent figure as the

“Other.” The magazine’s creation of “imagined communities” relies on language, geographical proximity, and a shared culture as criteria for inclusion.

At times, however, the sphere of inclusion shifts and grows to include additional countries and cultures. The imagined communities created by Der Bazar were anything but static and often changed according to subject matter, at times restricting the national image of woman to include only the German-speaking wife and mother and, at other times, expanding to include women of Western European nations in line with German ideology. For example, the above-cited article by Reinwald presents an understanding of the German woman (as represented by the Austrian writer Karoline Pichler) as

fundamentally different from the French woman (as represented by the writer Mme de Staël). Other articles, such as “Die Crinoline auf Madagascar,” to which I will return in the following section, assumes commonalities between the French and German cultures and offers the two as united against the unrefined African “Other.” National identity is thus to be understood as dynamic and fluid. At times, the German woman is defined by her similarity to women of other European cultures, while at other times, she is presented

124“Zwei hohe Bräute,” Der Bazar, Illustrirte Damen Zeitung, February 1878, 246-47.

80 as unique and different from even her sisters in neighboring Western countries. The following section further explores how the image of the civilized and cultured middle-class German woman was constructed in the pages of Der Bazar with the aid of articles and images focusing on what the German woman was not. By offering images and texts representative of an unrefined “Other,” the magazine further enforced an ideology of gender, class, and national identity.